Batch file doesn't read flags correctly

Question

I've got a little batch file and it looks like this:

.\batchisp.exe –device at32uc3b1512 –hardware usb –operation erase f memory flash blankcheck loadbuffer G3Pro_USB.hex program verify start reset 0

The whole line is fine and works correctly if I run it straight in PowerShell. However, if I run the batch file, it runs this:

.\batchisp.exe ΓÇôdevice at32uc3b1512 ΓÇôhardware usb ΓÇôoperation erase f memory flash blankcheck loadbuffer G3Pro_USB.hex program verify start reset 0

Which does not work, because as you can see, the - 's have changed into ΓÇô 's... Can anybody tell me why this is and how to fix it?

Answer 1

This is because the – marks are not - characters. They are actually endashes . These usually are caused by Word's automatic en/emdashing .

Powershell is smart enough to convert the endashes to dashes as "arguments", but cmd is not.

To fix this issue, replace – with - . A regex search/replace that catches all the alternative dash types that works in notepad++ is: [–—‒] to - .